Anthony Scott’s Pomeranian, Biana, stands next to Scraps from “Corpse Bride” in a composite photo.
Warner Bros./Bianca Composite By Anthony Scott
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and the owner of the dog who voiced Scraps is as proud as ever of his pup’s performance in the film.
Corpse Bride was originally released in theaters on Sept. 23, 2005, and the stop-motion animated classic returned to theaters earlier this month for special anniversary screenings. Three of the film’s core creatives — character co-creator Carlos Grangel, puppet maker Ian Mackinnon and animation supervisor Anthony Scott — will be celebrating the film with a panel at the 7th annual LightBox Expo at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, Calif., on Sunday. Tickets for the LBX on Friday and Sunday are still available.
Directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson, Corpse Bride tells the Victorian era tale of Victor Van Dort (voice of Johnny Depp), a nervous groom who, after a botched wedding rehearsal, goes for a walk in the woods.
Practicing his vows, Victor mistakenly unearths a deceased bride to be, Emily (Helena Bonham Carter), who believes the dashing chap has proposed to her. After Victor is transported from the drab Land of the Living to the colorful Land of the Dead, Emily surprises her “groom” with an early gift — a box full of bones that quickly assembles itself into a skeleton of Victor’s late dog, Scraps, who happily barks upon seeing his loving owner again.
In real life, the dog who gave Scraps his voice was Scott’s Pomeranian, Bianca. In an email interview, Scott said he, Bianca and his other dog, Zero — named after the ghostly canine in Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas — moved from the U.S. to England when he began work on the production. One of Scott’s duties on Corpse Bride was to animate Scraps.
“Bianca was a feisty little 5-pound Pom that absolutely loved people. At one point during the production, it could have been [producer] Allison Abbate or Mike Johnson — I can’t remember exactly who — suggested using Bianca for the temp barks for Scraps,” Scott recalled.
“So, I brought her into the studio one day and I remember chasing her around, trying to record a few barks so they could cut them in,” he added. “These recordings were used in the animatic (a moving storyboard) to assist the animators during production.”
Anthony Scott animates Scraps on “Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.”
Brian Demoskoff/Courtesy Anthony
Bianca’s Bark Was So Impressive That The Production Wanted It In The Film
After Bianca recorded the temporary tracks for Scraps, her impressive barks landed her the voice gig for the film.
“When the time drew near for the final mix, I was surprised to find out that the temp barks had so much personality, the production wanted to use Bianca’s bark for the actual movie,” Anthony Scott recalled. “But they needed higher quality recordings, which meant she had to go into a recording studio.”
As such, Scott traveled with Bianca to a recording session, but as it turned out, the Pom was a little bit shy.
“Try as we might, we only managed a couple of barks out of her! I knew she was capable of more and was sure I could train her to bark on command,” Scott recalled.
Luckily, Scott was able to convince the sound engineer on Corpse Bride another chance, and the two went back home to begin preparing for the role.
Anthony Scott with his dogs Zero and Bianca.
Courtesy of Anthony Scott
“I used treats and associative commands to get her to bark when I said, very enthusiastically, ‘Who’s there?’ It was working!” Scott said. “So, we returned two weeks later and recorded an endless supply of barks and doggy sounds.”
Sadly, Scott said, Bianca passed away over 10 years ago. He has plenty of loving memories of her, though, including her performance in Corpse Bride.
“Every time I watch Corpse Bride, when I hear her bark during the Scraps scenes, I can’t help but remember what a special little pup Bianca was,” Scott said.
Scott is sure to share more memories of Bianca on Sunday at the Corpse Bride LBX panel alongside Carlos Grangel and Ian Mackinnon. Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride is available to purchase or rent on streaming and a disc version of the film remastered is 4K Ultra HD and is available in stores and through online retailers.
You can see more of Anthony Scott’s work on Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and Bianca’s performance as Scraps on Scott’s Stop Motion Animation website.